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In the past week, vast protests sparked by a bus-fare increase have rocked Brazil, taking its leaders – and the world – by surprise. TED Fellow and conservation biologist Juliana M Ferreira offers an insider’s perspective on what led to this transformational moment.

With all the eyes of the world on Brazil due to the upcoming World Cup 2014 and Olympics 2016, the view of the last few days, especially on June 17th, was a little different from the world’s stereotypes of Brazil: happy and beautiful people partying and dancing semi-naked samba, and enjoying soccer matches while sipping caipirinhas.

What the world saw was the explosion from pressure that had been accumulating for a long time. News agencies claim that altogether, 250,000 people were protesting that day in many Brazilian capitals. However, photos show that this number was actually much higher. It started when local governments raised bus fares…